As you may or may not be aware, Patreon announced the elimination of "per-creation billing" after November 2025. You can read the announcement here: https://news.patreon.com/articles/understanding-apple-requirements-for-patreon
AniDB currently uses a "per-creation billing" model. This is how we are able to control when we make paid Patreon posts, and collect your pledges. This control allowed AniDB to minimize the collection of excess funds beyond what we need to operate the site.
Patreon is making this change because they have been forced to do so by Apple. Apple's app store no longer supports Patreon's per-creation billing model. In order for Patreon to comply and remain on the Apple App Store, they must migrate all creators to a Subscription model.
As a result of this change from Patreon, AniDB will be migrating to a subscription model in mid-2025. This month's banner contest and paid post will be the last one under the current "per-creation billing" model.
We are currently assessing the impact of this change to AniDB, and what this means for everyone that supports us. Most likely, the following will happen:
We move to a monthly subscription model as required by Patreon
Everyone adjusts their Patreon pledges to a smaller amount to account for monthly billing
Patreon also offers the option of annual subscription -- we are reviewing this feature
If AniDB accumulates more money than we need, we will use Patreon's "pause monthly billing" feature to pause billings for 1 month at a time
We keep pausing each month, as needed, until we burn off our surplus funds
Based on our current hosting costs, we need approximately $3,100 USD per year ($258 USD per month) to keep the lights on.
We will post more details and plans in the new year. Until then, enjoy the banner contest below as usual for this Christmas and New Year's!
Please keep all discussion regarding this matter on the AniDB Forum in this thread.
[Patreon] 2024 Christmas and 2025 New Year's Patreon Campaign Banner Contest!
Hi everyone,
Christmas is coming, with New Year's right around the corner! Time to bundle up as we head into winter. Unique to Japan, their celebration of Christmas often involves ordering KFC for the family. For New Year's, Japanese decorate their front doors with a kadomatsu.
Thank you again to all of our Patreon supporters for keeping us alive. As mentioned during the 2024 Spring campaign, this Winter we will be refilling the AniDB bank account with a new fundraising Patreon post.
For this contest, submit a Christmas or New Year's themed AniDB anime banner! The winning banner will be featured as our 2024 Christmas and New Year's Patreon fundraising post banner. The banner should tie in Christmas or New Year's themes with both anime and AniDB.
What does a 'Christmas theme or New Year's' entail?
The theme centres around celebrating Christmas or New Year! Both general and Japan-specific Christmas or New Year's activities are welcome.
Some illustrative examples include:
Christmas:
1. Christmas trees and lights
2. Snow falling, winter weather, etc
3. Santa, elves, reindeer, etc
4. Dressing up in Christmas themed clothing
5. Large celebrations / meals -- including the mentioned KFC Japan
6. Winter activities like skating, etc
New Year's:
7. Fireworks
8. Celebrations
9. Kimono
10. Shrine visits
11. New Year's countdowns
Etc. This list is non-exhaustive.
The Prize
The winner will have their banner and username (unless you choose to remain anonymous) featured publicly on our upcoming 2024 Christmas and 2025 New Year's Patreon fundraising post.
The winner will also receive a Creative Content badge on their userpage.
Caption: Participated in a Patreon banner contest Caption: Participated in a Patreon banner contest (winner on 2024 Christmas / 2025 New Year's)
The Rules
Anyone can participate, both Patrons and regular users.
The submission period will be open from 2024-Dec-16 Monday to 2025-Jan-10 Friday.
To enter your submission, simply reply to this AniDB forum thread with your picture.
Upload your image to one of the whitelisted image hosts. imgur.com is preferred. Whitelisted hosts: abload.de, tinypic.com, flickr.com, imgsafe.org, imgur.com, ipfs.pics, photobucket.com, picload.org, postimage.org, puu.sh
Embed your image in your reply using the image tags.
The voting period will be from 2025-Jan-11 Saturday to 2025-Jan-19 Sunday. You may vote on as many images as you like.
If we suspect vote stuffing, then the staff will take this into consideration when looking at the results, and discard entries if needed.
In the unlikely event of a tie, a runoff vote will be held from 2025-Jan-20 Monday to 2025-Jan-26 Sunday for all images coming first place in the original vote. Each user will only get 1 vote in the runoff.
In the even-more unlikely event of a tie in the runoff vote, the AniDB staff will decide the winner.
Image Requirements
Submit an AniDB anime image that will be used as the banner on our upcoming Patreon fundraising post. The banner should tie in this contest's theme (as described above) with both anime and AniDB.
You are allowed to use the AniDB logo in your image, and it is encouraged!
Original content is preferred, remixed content is acceptable.
Since the images will be posted on our public Patreon page, all images must be family-friendly, for all ages.
18+ / adult images will not be accepted.
For borderline / ecchi images, the staff (mainly CDB-Man) will have sole discretion to accept or reject the submission. Note: we will lean on the more conservative side.
You are allowed to sign your image with your name (and optionally, your AniDB user ID). Please have the signature in the bottom-right corner.
All images should be submitted in PNG format to comply with Patreon's requirements.
For a Patreon post, a 16:9 ratio image would fit best.
Images should be high resolution, 1920 x 1080 at minimum.
We reserve the right to disqualify images that don't meet minimum quality standards.
I'd also like to ask everyone to name the characters and anime contained in your submission. It helps a lot to identify who they are!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
We are looking forward to your participation. Let the artistic creativity of our anime fans run wild!
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
AniDB stands for Anime DataBase. We feature detailed information about all forms of CJK (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) animation.
Why should you use AniDB?
AniDB is not-for-profit (no ads, no spyware).
Your privacy is important to us!
By fans, for fans!
AniDB is shaped by its users, and is constantly evolving. Our content is constantly kept up to date, with revisions coming straight from your user input. With your feedback and suggestions, new features are brought to AniDB. Your participation will transform AniDB into the most informative anime database on the Internet.